Monday, July 18, 2011

Face Your Fear of Pitching

Several of us are pitching this Saturday during the annual Ozarks Romance Authors' conference http://ozarks-romance-authors.com/ Writers from the Ozarks will pitch to either literary agent Louise Fury with the L. Perkins Agency or Avalon editor Lia Brown. And we're nervous.

Whether you're a virgin pitcher, a semi-pro or a pro, let's face our pitch fear head on. What exactly are you afraid of? See a list of possibilities below, then add your own.

I might forget my name, or worse, my plot.

It's highly possible that I'll cry, pee my pants or faint.

What if my book isn't good enough?

I can't figure out how to boil 300 pages of perfect prose down to a sentence or two.

6 comments:

Wow! Every one is right on the money. Now let's think about first impressions...Is my posture too stiff? Do I look too relaxed and therefore cocky? Do I have a piece of bagel hanging on one of my front teeth? Am I smiling too much? OMG - I'm hyperventilating...what if I pass out? Or throw up? I go through all of that BEFORE I get to the stuff you listed.

This is weird. I don't see my earlier post. This post is so timely, Beth. Several of us are planning pitch sessions for The Ozark Romance Authors conference this weekend. I'm probably afraid of "all of the above". But most of all, I'm afraid of stumbling over my words. I'm good at that anyway.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?

THE MISSING KEY

SANTA'S SECRET

About Me

After being a bank VP and a hospital PR Director, Beth Carter shed her suits and heels and waved bye-bye to corporate America.
She now happily writes from home in her pj's and has three children's picture books published: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE? THE MISSING KEY and SANTA'S SECRET.
Carter's debut women's fiction, THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS, will be out August 2014 by Soul Mate Publishing.
She also has short stories and poems published in several anthologies and and six-word memoirs in three six-word memoir collections alongside famous writers and celebrities.
A fan of marketing after having worked in that field for 20 years, most days you'll find the author sipping a skinny vanilla latte at Barnes & Noble if she's not at T.J. Maxx or at home writing.